VON USSAR danceworks presents the 7th Annual Dance Gallery Festival, featuring original works from emerging and renowned choreographers from around the country in three performance programs on October 11, 12, and 13, 2013 at the Ailey Citigroup Theater, 405 W. 55th Street, NYC (at Ninth Avenue). The Dance Gallery Festival will perform on Friday, October 11 at 7:30pm and Sunday, October 13 at 3pm. The Dance Gallery UP Close will perform on Saturday, October 12 at 7:30pm. Level UP will perform on Sunday, October 13 at 7pm. Tickets are $20 ($15 for students with valid ID and seniors) and are available at http://www.smarttix.com or by phone at 212-868-4444.

As part of Dance Gallery Festival’s continued mission to find up-and-coming choreographic talent at the national level, the festival continues, Level UP, which serves as a performance showcase for three talented dance companies/choreographers that are ready to advance to the next level in the development and promotion of their work. Each company will receive 25 minutes of performance time at the prestigious Ailey Citigroup Theater and a small stipend.

For the fourth consecutive year, Dance Gallery Festival will also perform in Texas at Sam Houston State University on October 5 and October 8 at 8pm. Choreographers/companies featured in the Texas festival include:

Alenka Cizmesija is a native of Croatia residing and creating in NYC. She is the artistic director of Art Deconstructed, faculty at Long Island University, EMIA and AIE Ailey. Her work has been presented at APAP 2013, Dance Gallery Festival, DUMBO,COOL NY, DNA WIP,Dance wave, Brooklyn Youth festival. She also received commissions from the Ailey school, LIU, Brooklyn College, EMIA, Jazz fest Alabama amongst others.

Alia Kache received her training at Center for Creative Arts, Chattanooga Ballet, and the Ailey/Fordham BFA program. She has performed in Ailey II, Nathan Trice/RITUALS, Creative Outlet, CeDeCe, Radio City Christmas Spectacular, AIDA and The Lion King National Tours, Music of Regret, and Cordoniu Navidad. Co-founder of Renegade Performance Group, Kache has choreographed for Broadway Cares, The Helping Hands Campaign, and Cister Musica Festival.

Andee Scott is an independent dance artist. Her choreography is interdisciplinary and site-specific, with a particular focus on light. She curated and performed a solo-show, Woman’s Work: Reconstructions of Self, subsequently touring works in Italy, with Deja Donne and was a long-time member of Sharir+Bustamante Danceworks, Austin, TX. She is currently on faculty at the University of South Florida, Tampa.

As a dancer, Bryan Arias has performed with Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Netherlands Dance Theater, and most recently, Crystal Pite's Kidd Pivot. Bryan has choreographed works for the Juilliard School, The School at Peridance, and Laguardia School for the Arts. He is the 6th Copenhagen International Choreography Competition first place and audience choice award winner for his work "Without Notice".

Based on Enzo Celli’s great vision and interpretation abilities, Celli Contemporary Ballet is not simply a dance company but it’s a reference point for the experimentation and development of contemporary dance itself. The dancers are artists coming from different backgrounds who share the same multifaceted study on contemporary dance and theatre.

Founded by dancer/choreographer Jacqueline Stewart, Jaxon Movement Arts is a project -based company that creates dance art inspired [by current events, its surrounding urban environment], and active collaborations with adjacent artistic mediums including photography, fashion and new media. In July 2010, Jacqueline was awarded the grand prize for her work, "It's Not Enough To Close Your Eyes", by The Joyce Theatre Foundation of New York. Jaxon currently creates new work in both Chicago and New York City.

Keith Thompson, choreographer, teacher, dancer, performed internationally for the Trisha Brown Dance Company from 1992-2001, currently performs and is rehearsal director for Liz Lerman, has taught globally and is currently on faculty at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. Keith’s company, danceTactics performance group, was featured earlier this spring at NJPAC's Jersey Moves Dance Festival.

Danté Brown began his dance training at Wesleyan University, where he whetted his creative appetite. From that point, his interest in performance and choreography led him to The Ohio State University to pursue his MFA in Choreography and Performance. Since 2010, Dante Brown|Warehouse Dance has had the opportunity to show work at Dixon Place, LaMaMa, The New Museum, Wexner Center for the Arts, among others.

Dark Circles Contemporary Dance is dedicated to crafting and curating creative dance work that has its origins in the truth of human emotion for a worldwide audience. DCCD educates the public on the power of the art of dance and provides audiences with a multicultural experience.

Formerly a Principal with Birmingham Royal Ballet (UK), Soloist with San Francisco Ballet and Boston Ballet, David Justin’s performance career included leading roles of the classical and contemporary ballet cannons. Choreographing since 1991, his work is described as “poetic”, “musical” and “obsessively cohesive”. David is the Head of the BFA in Dance at UT Austin and Artistic Director of American Repertory Ensemble.

Dorcas Román is a dancer and choreographer native to Puerto Rico and the artistic director of DRDT. With a BA in theater from UPR and an MFA in choreography from UCLA Roman has been active in dance and theater for over 20 years. DRDT had toured to festivals in Spain, Chicago, New York, Texas and around CA.

Erin Cardinal has had the privilege of dancing her entire life. She is a founding member and artistic director of Moving Current dance collective in Tampa, FL. Her work has been presented by Florida Dance Festival, University of South Florida, The Dance Gallery Festival (Houston) and Touhill Performing Arts Center (St. Louis) among others. http://www.movingcurrent.com

Jacqueline Stewart is the founder/choreographer of Jaxon Movement Arts. Ms. Stewart has performed for companies Thodos Dance Chicago, The Seldoms and more. Ms. Stewart was the grand prize winner of The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2010: Chicago granted by The Joyce Theatre Foundation of New York for her work “It’s Not Enough to Close Your Eyes”.

Jamal Jackson Dance Company (JJDC) was founded in 2004 with the purpose of fusing various traditional African dance styles with Modern techniques and diverse contemporary music to create a new, unique technique that is relevant to a multifarious community of Americans. The movement and storylines of JJDC choreography focus on redefining ideas of community and blurring divisive lines, while still celebrating the beauty of individual cultures.

Born in Korea, Jiwon Lee earned B.A in dance in the EWHA Womans University. She got the First Prize in Donga Dance Competition, which is the most renowned one in Korea. She attended the Ailey School from 2007-2009 and earned MFA degree in Choreography Track in the Purchase College in 2012. Her choreography has been chosen at numerous venues such as the 2012 APAP Baruch performing Arts Center, Cunningham theater, Peridance Capezio Theater & so on.

Joshua L. Peugh is Artistic Director of Dark Circles Contemporary Dance. In 2006, Joshua moved to South Korea to join Universal Ballet where he performed soloist and featured roles in works by Ohad Naharin, Christopher Wheeldon and others. He has created work for festivals all over Asia and North America and served as Associate Choreographer for Bruce Wood Dance Project.

Kate Bishop is a dancer living in NYC. She graduated with a BFA in dance from New World School of the Arts. She is currently dancing her 3rd season with Core Dance Contemporary and showing work within the city. She is producing the first annual SPARK Performance Forum, a networking based festival for emerging performance artists in Williamsburg, BK.

Laura Harrell, from Houston, TX, holds a M.F.A. and B.F.A. in Dance from SHSU. She has presented choreography at SHSU, Dance Gathering at the Barnevelder, Houston Fringe Festival at the Frenetic Theater, Venturing Out at the Houston Met Studio, and the American College Dance Festival where her work was chosen from over 40 works to perform at the Gala performance.

Lauren Edson, originally from Boise, Idaho trained at NCSA and The Juilliard School. Her professional experiences include: Trey McIntyre Project and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. As a choreographer, her work has appeared at the Kennedy Center, McCallum Theatre, On the Boards and Jacob’s Pillow’s Inside/Out Series. Awards include: Great Works 2012 Choreography Prize, Audience Favorite Award Milwaukee Ballet’s 2013 ‘Genesis’ and Winner Northwest Dance Project’s 2009 International Choreographic Competition.

Mallory Lynn + Brendan Duggan/ LoudHoundMovement Founded in 2012, LoudHoundMovement is a choreographic collective designed to enable extensive creation processes. LHM has been produced by the CURRENT SESSIONS volumes II and III, the Playground NYC After Dark, the Freight, and the Center for Performance Research. In November, LHM will premiere a new evening length work presented by Gowanus Arts and Production at the Green Building.

Marcus Jarrell Willis began his formal training in Houston, Texas. He has worked with Ailey II, Pascal Rioult Dance Theater, Dominic Walsh Dance Theater, and Tania Pérez-Salas Compañía de Danza. Mr. Willis is currently a member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Since joining the company, he has choreographed for the annual Ailey Dancers’ Resource Fund Performances. His work has also been presented in the 2009 TDDC Contemporary Dance Festival in NYC and The Dance Gallery Festival in 2012. He is happy to continue his exploration in the choreographic world.

NobleMotion Dance exploded onto the Houston dance scene in 2009 and has since received critical acclaim for their “extraordinary athleticism” and “cutting edge” programming. NMD has been presented nationally at venues such as The Kennedy Center and Seattle's On the Boards and was recently listed in Dance Magazine as one of Houston’s “A-list” dance companies. For more information, visit us at http://www.Noblemotiondance.com

Omar Román (Bayamón, Puerto Rico) has performed with Balleteatro Nacional de Puerto Rico, Dance Iquail and Taira School in Japan. Currently, he is a member Parsons Dance Company. Mr. Roman has presented his choreography at Peridance Capezio Center and the Ailey Citigroup Theater.

Jean Philippe Dury was born in Paris in 1978, where he began his ballet studies at the age of six. At the age of eleven he joined the Opéra de Paris Dance School, becoming a full member of the company eight years later in the Corps de Danse category. In 1998 he won first prize for artistic and contemporary dance at the Saint Petersburg Awards whilst in 2001, he was awarded first prize at the Firenze & Danza dance awards in Florence, as well as at the Grand Prix de la República de Italia. During the 2003-04 season L’Opéra de Paris granted him a sabbatical year during which he danced for the Les Ballets de Monte Carlo. In September 2007 he joined the Compañía Nacional de Danza. In 2012, Jean Philippe left the company, deciding to develop his choreographic qualities.

Revolve Dance Company, the professional branch of NHPA dance studio in Spring, TX, has been noted to be "one of the most slick contemporary jazz dance groups around." Their "razor-sharp precision" and "dignified elegance" has been presented in multiple Houston dance events including Weekend of Texas Contemporary Dance, the JCC's Triple Focus, Dance Houston's City-Wide Festival, and The Dance Gallery Festival. http://www.revolvedanceco.com

Tori Duhaime, 20, grew up in Durango, Colorado studying all forms of dance. She just finished her sophomore year at the University of Alabama as a dance major and is transferring to the University of Utah to continue her major in the fall. Her choreography has been shown and accoladed at the Alabama Dance Festival and the Panoply Arts Festival.

VON USSAR danceworks Astrid von Ussar has been faculty at The Ailey School since 1998. She has also taught at Sam Houston University, Columbia University, Long Island University and various studios in NYC. Her company VON USSAR danceworks premiered in 2002 and has since been presented at numerous festival, most notably the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival (Massachusetts) and Graz Tanzwochen (Austria). She has been commissioned to do a new work on the BFA students at the Ailey/Fordham, Lula Washington Dance Theater, Houston Metropolitan Dance Company, The Ailey Student Performance Group, Genesis Dance Company, Long Island University and Plesana Izba (Europe). Most recently the company made a guest appearance at the Dancin’ Downtown at the Joyce, presented by Dancers Responding to Aids and was commissioned for NY Summerstage. Von Ussar is the artistic director of The Dance Gallery Festival.

The Dance Gallery Festival is produced and curated by VON USSAR danceworks under the artistic direction of Astrid von Ussar. In 2011, Andy Noble became Associate Artistic Director of The Dance Gallery Festival. Founded to address the scarcity of affordable venues available for presentation of modern dance, the festival showcases the works of both established and emerging choreographers in a state of the art theater.

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